Yet another record of Scylla serrata Forsskål, 1775 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Portunidae) from the western Atlantic

Abstract

Abstract The Indo-Pacific edible swimming crab Scylla serrata is reported here for the fifth time from the western Atlantic including a failed attempt of introduction to Florida for aquaculture purposes in the years 1960’s. The species had been recorded from Brazil in the early 1980’s and in 2011 and from the Caribbean coast of Colombia in 2013. The capture of a third specimen in southeastern Brazil on 24 August 2020 is discussed here. On all occasions individuals found in Brazil were adults captured alive near port areas. The occurrence of S. serrata in disparate time periods in the western Atlantic (1983, 2011, 2013 and 2020) is regarded as an indication of low inoculation pressure.

Keywords

• Giant mud crab
• Alien marine species
• Shipping
• Charybdis hellerii
• Indo-Pacific
• Brazil